By Rachel Morrow of Mormon Buzzz.
“And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” Ether 12:27
It’s no secret that weaknesses are frowned upon in our society. In fact, society does basically everything possible to cover up weaknesses and flaws. We are surrounded by photo-shopped images, auto-tuned music, and the “perfect” lives that people live. Even social media is infiltrated by a perfectionist mentality—rarely do people post anything on Facebook or Instagram that isn’t severely filtered, edited, and changed to mask anything that would be considered less than perfect.
It is hard to live in a world like this. It is hard to be constantly barraged with perfection and assume that anything less than perfection is unacceptable.
Something that is largely considered a “weakness” in society is mental illness. I can’t count the number of negative things I’ve heard thrown around in daily conversation about mental illness—
“If she would stop just thinking about herself maybe she could just be happier. It’s not depression, it’s selfishness.”
“That guy over there must be insane. I don’t want to go over there.”
“I would never hire that man. He is crazy. I heard he is bipolar.”
In a way, society is right. Mental illness is a weakness—just like any other illness. Heart problems are a weakness. A broken leg is a weakness. Diabetes is a weakness. Here’s the difference though—you don’t hear people condemning someone for having a heart problem. It is time for the negativity and misunderstandings that surround mental illnesses to stop. Just because I struggle with depression doesn’t mean that I am any less of a person than the guy down the block. I have my challenges and weaknesses, and so does he.
One of the greatest blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the promise of eventual perfection. One day, we will stand before God—perfected—because of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We aren’t perfect now, and there’s no use pretending to be.
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Aleah is a graduate of Southern Virginia University, where she studied English, Creative Writing, and Dance. She now works full time as a marketing and product manager, writer, and editor. She currently hosts the podcast “Single to the Glory” about singlehood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Aleah served a mission in California and loves baking, Lang Leav poetry, Gaynor Minden pointe shoes, and Bollywood movies.
